Trading Companies

The Sea of Thieves is an uncharted land of mystery, magic, and opportunity. A variety of people made their way to the Sea of Thieves in search of this opportunity, whether they’re entrepreneurs running Taverns at Outposts, looking to harness magic from the ghosts of past pirates, or wanting to become a Pirate Legend.

Of these characters, the most prevalent are the three Trading Companies that make up the backbone of the Sea of Thieves economy:

The Gold Hoarders

The Merchant Alliance

The Order of Souls

Each of these Trading Companies offer varying types of Voyages to serve their own needs within the world of Sea of Thieves.

Gold Hoarders

The Gold Hoarders are the oldest of the three Trading Companies, having been established in the distance past by some of the first pirates who sought treasure in the Sea of Thieves.

Gold Hoarders are very much as their name describes – they love treasure. While it’s suggested that they used to hunt for treasure blindly, they’ve more recently struck a wary partnership with the Order of Souls. Using their mysterious arts and knowledge of long-deceased pirates and privateers who once hid their treasure among these islands, the Order of Souls provided a set of maps and riddles to locate these buried chests, as well as a set of Skeleton Keys to unlock them.

With the location of the treasure, and the means to unlock it, they are now recruiting pirates to locate and return them. Pirates willing to undertake their Voyages are charged with solving these riddles and finding the ‘x’ on the map, and after returning successfully are rewarded with a cut of the gold that the Gold Hoarders find within.

Merchant Alliance

As opportunistic as they get, the Merchant Alliance seek to establish trade between the occupied Outposts through out the Sea of Thieves. Where the Gold Hoarders see the potential for for fortune in the treasure buried among the islands, the Merchant Alliance see opportunity in everyone else travelling to the Sea of Thieves, and seek to control trade.

To help establish trade and satisfy these markets, the Merchant Alliance charges willing pirates with finding, collecting, and delivering various supplies to Outposts in need. These could be animals, such as pigs, snakes, or chickens; gunpowder kegs, or boxes of supplies (wood, cannonballs, or bananas).

Order of Souls

The last Trading Company is the mystical Order of Souls. In the history of the Sea of Thieves, many pirates have perished exploring the oceans and uncharted islands, with the magic of the region turning them into skeletons. By collecting their skulls, the Order of Souls works to harness the magic from these former pirates.

While they want to control this magic for themselves, they also use this knowledge to help the Gold Hoarders by developing riddles to locate these pirates’ buried treasure.

The Order of Souls recruit willing pirates as bounty hunters, tasked with locating and defeating these fallen pirate captains and crews, and are paid in gold upon the delivery of their skulls.